man

silence, man’s favourite food for you
feeds you every time you call
eating more but becoming less
ride up the hem to let them see skin
draping over your ribcage
so you never forget where you came from
only a part of something so much more whole

man likes to see the top of your head
your wings his favourite punching bag
fingers leashed around your neck
pray your knees bruised

swallow
the words you want to speak
swallow
everything about him

smile, but don’t show too much teeth
dentist hands hunting for a cavity
filling you with sweet lies

waiting for him is still time spent with him
11pm, the first time you hear from him all day
man likes it when you wait
for him, but not for your first time

give, give, give
he asks your camera lens dirty

man loves it best when he pushes you off a cliff
so he can talk about saving you

Published by Heartbeatingwings

36 thoughts on “man”

  4. Brad Osborne says:
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    Powerful, intense, and beautifully written! The flow and phrasing lend potency to the words. I can recognize the truth behind your words, even though it is hard to admit that my own gender acts this way. Very well written!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Monacular Spectacular says:
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    Every line hits hard and just when I think the impact can’t be anymore powerful you throw in this line “man likes it when you wait
    for him, but not for your first time”

    Thank you, this is raw, brutal, direct and all the better for it.

    Like

  12. cyncoed says:
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    Brutal, with some great images; definitely gets the message across. On first word I started off thinking you would be leaning towards the warmth displayed in Ronan Keating’s ‘you say it best when you say nothing at all’ kind of silence, probably because I had just read another poem about silence with an altogether much softer cuddly feel, but it didn’t take long before you quickly changed my mind! Well done; loved it….

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Michael Sean Erickson says:
    Reply

    Beautifully compelling expression of the tears withheld and the horrors concealed. The beast in every man is his dark imagination. He imagines himself a god able to control his own world and, more poignantly, the people in his life. This control is manipulative, but it is also ultimately a sad absurdity, which you capture so well with your poetic style and word choice. The lies are forced into us, as you aptly state with the reference to the dentist, and we are left with suffering souls in search of the flickering candlelight fading in and out of the black.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Woodsy says:
    Reply

    So sad…
    and written with powerful verbal twists.

    The harsh experience of too many.
    Sometimes,
    I look at my gender…
    and I question how much I want to wear it.
    But I hope somehow to redeen that
    in how I wear my humanity.

    Liked by 1 person

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